Dalit boy found dead in Haryana after ‘stealing pigeon’

New Delhi: Days after two Dalit children were burnt alive allegedly by members of an upper caste community in Haryana’s Sun Perh village, a 14-year-old Dalit boy was found hanging near his house with wounds all over his body in the state on Thursday after being detained by police over the alleged theft of a pigeon.

Demanding action against the accused policemen and a compensation of Rs 10 lakh, Govind’s family and several others are sitting with his body on a road near their village in Sonepat district.

“Govind was charged with the theft of a pigeon by local people and then brutally thrashed by police for being a Dalit,” a member of his family reportedly said.

The police, however, claim Govind ran away and committed suicide, but a post mortem has confirmed injuries.

Govind was allegedly questioned by police on Wednesday and when his mother went to the police station to inquire about him, the policemen allegedly sought bribes. However, when she returned with the money, she was allegedly told that Govind had escaped.

“My son went to the police station himself, nothing was proved against him. The policemen asked for Rs. 5,000 from my son. He agreed but then they made a demand of 10,000 rupees,” Govind’s mother said on Friday.

While speaking to media persons, Govind’s brother said: “If someone runs away from police custody, what is the point of the police being there? In the morning, we found his dead body. They took our money and killed him.”

This comes two days after two Dalit children, two-year-old Vaibhav and nine-month-old Divya, were allegedly burnt alive by members of an upper caste community in Haryana’s Sun Perh village.

A police spokesman said, “Some criminals burnt a Jatav family of village Sun Perh, police station Sadar Ballabhgarh of Faridabad district when they were sleeping inside their house. Four members including Jitender, his wife Rekha and two small children namely Vaibhav (son) aged 2 years and Divya (daughter) aged 9 months were inside the room. Subsequently, the fire spread inside the room and both the children expired. Jitender and his wife Rekha also sustained burn injuries.”

Union Minister V K Singh on Thursday stoked a controversy while blaming a family feud for the burning alive of two Dalit children in Haryana and drew an analogy that if someone throws stones at a dog, the government is not responsible.

“If someone throws stones at a dog, the government is not responsible. It was a feud between two families, the matter is under inquiry,” Singh told reporters.

Singh’s statement was widely condemned, forcing him to offer a clarification that he was ‘misquoted’ by media.

My state has really done an excellent job, especially with the help of government. So now we really can't say that girls are less because they are actually working so hard to bring the equality in terms of boys and girls, in terms of gender.

Meenakshi along with Miss India World 2018 winner Anukreethy Vas and second runner up Shreya Rao Kamavarapu attended the launch and conducted a walkthrough of the store along with Vivek Bali, Chief Operating Officer - Sephora India at Arvind Beauty Brands. IANS

Miss India first runner-up Meenakshi Chaudhary, who hails from Haryana, says that her state has done an excellent job in bringing an equality between girls and boys with the help of government and this has shown amazing results in all fields.

“My state has really done an excellent job, especially with the help of government. So now we really can’t say that girls are less because they are actually working so hard to bring the equality in terms of boys and girls, in terms of gender.

“Time has proven itself that girls are not less than anybody, specifically in my state Haryana. You see in terms of sports, beauty pageants, I think Haryana has left a mark with Manushi Chillar, with Phogat sisters. We’ve proved our mark in each and every field,” Meenakshi told IANS in an interview here.

She was present to launch Sephora’s store at Oberoi Mall, Goregaon, here on Saturday.

With a presence in cities such as New Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Pune, this would be Sephora’s 17th store in the country.

With a presence in cities such as New Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Pune, this would be Sephora’s 17th store in the country., flickr

Meenakshi along with Miss India World 2018 winner Anukreethy Vas and second runner up Shreya Rao Kamavarapu attended the launch and conducted a walkthrough of the store along with Vivek Bali, Chief Operating Officer – Sephora India at Arvind Beauty Brands.

Meenakshi says that makeup is every girl’s best friend.

“It makes you look really pretty and Sephora has done an excellent job in making us look extremely beautiful, extremely confident…,” she said by adding that Mascara, a nice lip shade are some of the beauty essentials in her bag.

Coming from an Army family, she says that her life is completely changed post winning the title.

“The normal girl I was has transformed into Miss India and I think the entire country knows it and the best part about that is that it has made me realize my own potential. So I think I realize what I was able to do and I am capable of much more so I am really excited to carry this journey forward and learn a lot more,” she said. (IANS)